not to sound like an evil and monstrous brown woman but i will never have any empathy for white women and white lgbt people who join the ranks of fascists. i don’t give a single fuck if they face misogyny or homophobia in their political circles. that’s what you get for aligning with your whiteness to enhance your own position in society. and if this makes me sound like a terrible, loveless person, then so fucking be it. no one forced them into brutalizing or hating people of color and jewish people.
We lay here for years or for hours Your hand in my hand, so still and discreet So long, we’d become the flowers We’d feed well the land and worry the sheep
All Hallows’ Eve, 1895 by John Collier (English, 1850–1934)
The context is that according to folklore, looking behind you in a mirror at All Hallows Eve will grant you a look at your future spouse. Which shifts the feeling of the scene from eery to romantic. I’m looking into her eyes through a screen, a picture, a camera, a painting, a mirror and through time, but still slightly fall in love.
For the love of god if your native language is different from the majority language of the country you’re living in don’t raise your baby speaking the local language. Either have each parent speak to them in a different language or only speak your native language at home. The kid will be okay. Get your native language in their head. You may think you’re helping them in the long term giving them the local language but no. When they’re an adult they’ll wonder why you never taught them your language. They can and will learn the local language in school. They’ll be okay. Produce more bilingual children. They are good for society.
And also, being bilingual helps with executive function. Not all kids have to reach the same language development at the same time as everyone else, it’s okay to have your kid speaking in more complex sentences a month or so later than the “normal” kids.
I’ve studied the science linguistically but I’d like to put that aside. PLEASE teach your kid the native language. It can go so much deeper than “wondering why”, it can create a schism-like pain when you know there’s a heritage you have but all access has been cut off. Yes, ALL. If you’re fortunate enough to visit the country of your native language but dont teach your kid, they will be miserable, quiet, and alone, and go through difficult phases of hating that heritage because the ladders were cut for them.
And in the United States, this starts young. I’ve seen teachers tell a Kazakhstani parent that she should tell her kid to speak English INSTEAD. The kid was 2 and a half. A friend’s five year old told him “Dad this is America we dont speak Chinese”. If you don’t teach your kid your native language this country will wrest all pride and heritage from them by force. An occasional visit or two to the home country will not stop the bleeding.
The pain of not speaking the language of my heritage is something I don’t wish on anyone. And that language is one of the most spoken in the world, imagine if your native language is rarer. What happens? What happens?
ALT
